It's admirable in a season full of adversity how the New Orleans Saints (4-5) have rallied to within a game of .500 after an 0-4 start. They have won four their past five games—including Sunday's upset of the division-leading Atlanta Falcons—creating some buzz that they're back in the NFC wild-card race.

With a quarterback as talented as Drew Brees, the Saints are never completely out of it until they are mathematically eliminated. But the reality is they have too much ground to make up facing a second-half schedule with plenty more potential bumps.

Currently, the 6-3 Packers—who beat the Saints in Week 4—and the 6-4 Seahawks occupy the conference's wild-card positions. The 6-4 Vikings are a little behind, having lost to Seattle.

There's one more NFC team with a better record than New Orleans, the 5-4 Buccaneers, who haven't lost since they played the Saints in Week 7. Three more teams have the Saints' exact record: the Cowboys, Lions and Cardinals.

Assume the Packers-Bears runner-up in the NFC North race will take the first wild card. Even if the Saints finish strong, there are still six teams they need to outplay to sneak away with the No. 6 seed.

That doesn't even consider what's directly in front of them. They have only three home games left, with one against the Bucs and another against the 49ers (6-2-1). Oakland is a tricky trip in Week 11, and that's the easiest of the Saints' four remaining road games. They also draw the Falcons, Giants and Cowboys away from the Superdome.

The problem that won't go away is their defense, which now has yielded more than 400 yards of total offense in every game this season. Atlanta just dented the Saints for 453, which actually dropped their per-game average to 469.3—nearly 60 yards more than the next-worst team.

Consider six of New Orleans' remaining seven opponents all rank in the top 15 in total offensive yards, starting with the Raiders. That's asking Brees to win a lot more shootouts.

The Saints will be a dangerous spoiler for all the more viable playoff contenders they face for the rest of 2012, but in terms of their own postseason chances, they will need to wait until next year.